What’s ahead for a top South Carolina tourist stop

The Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum is a four and a half hour drive from Walhalla, but Rotarians left their meeting yesterday with an understanding why the trip is worthwhile. The retiring executive director, Mac Burdette, says there’s a plan going forward to continue to place Patriots Point as a self-sustaining arm of state government that offers an important message about the nation’s military heritage—especially the lessons of the Second World War. Patriot Point’s waters are home to three, 75-year old warships, of which the USS Yorktown is the most famous. A deal has been struck to allow a businessman, Mike Bennett, to develop 30 acres of the museum with a hotel, stores, and offices. That deal, predicts Burdette, is going to infuse Patriot’s Point with $3.6 million in annual revenue—money that’s going to help Patriot’s Point to maintain the ships. Those vessels represent an important symbol for the U-S for, as Burdette told the Rotarians, had the Allies failed to over Nazi Germany and the other Axis power, the U-S today would be a very different country.